SMOFCon, a convention for people who want to run a convention, is offering three scholarships. The con will be held in December in Lisbon, Portugal.
File 770 addresses the Twitter announcement that the Hugo Administrative Committee for DisCon II (WorldCon) has resigned en masse. The issue may be about space limitations imposed by the Con Committee. Within the File 770 article is a link to one of the Pixel Scrolls that addresses that concern.
Dean Wesley Smith thinks that writers make things hard for themselves when they start thinking about making money too early in the writing process. He provides a list of “stupidities” writer commit. What’s your opinion?
One commentor chosen at random will win an ARC of M.A. Carrick’s The Mask of Mirrors.
Publishers Weekly has an interview with Dean Koontz. (Thanks to File 770.)
After last fall’s scandal, Paolo Defendini is all the way out at Fireside. Founder Brien White has stepped back in full time, and hired new editorial staff.
Premee Mohamad released the name of the third book in her End of the World series; the book will be called The Void Ascendant.
This is a few months old but it contains interesting speculation over who will lead the new Avengers.
Kotaku recommends the nature-building program Terra Nill.
The Mary Sue gives Disney’s Luca a lovely review.
Here’s an article about the complicated comic history of Spider Woman. I’d make a pun about how all her connections to the various groups are like the threads of a web, but…
Black Widow, Image from Mau fandom.com
Megan Fox stars in a new horror movie, Till Death. (I don’t like to be picky, but shouldn’t that be “Til Death?”) (Update: according to Dictionary.com, this usage of the word for “until” is correct.)
CBS’s one-season paranormal thriller Evil found new life on Paramount Plus. The A.V. Club recommends it.
In honor of Pride, here is an article from 2 years ago about five LGBTQ (or probably—in some cases we’re going by a euphemistic historical record) scientists who changed what we know of the world.
Would you like an Escheresque bookstore? (Thanks to Borderlands Books for this one.)
Ars Technica shares a tale of two skeletons; two Norse men, 500 who died 500 miles apart, and who were clearly related. The story isn’t that strange, just a reminder about connections, and also a reminder that Norse folks, especially Vikings, got around.
For Juneteenth, a song by Rhiannon Giddens, accompanied by Yo Yo Ma.
I want to see “Luca,” but I looked up the trailer in both English and Italian, and the Italian version was so, so, so much better!!! I don’t know if one version of the audio track for this animated film is the “real” version, but I want charming, delightful characters and accents, and the kids in the Italian version are so much more fun and likable!
It’s like with the voices for Japanese anime films. You can have the original, charming Japanese voices. Or you can have crappy celebrities or other flat-sounding American voices that just sound annoying. People chosen because they’re famous, not because they’re good voice actors.
I will have to see “Luca” on a DVD with Italian audio and English subtitles!
I really liked the section when Jessica Drew was in San Francisco working as a PI. The artist was Steve Leialoha (who usually inks) and it was quirky. He’s more famous for working on Fables. Ah, looks like Chris Claremont was writing for the San Francisco era. Claremont brought out/revived the fact that Jessica put out pheromones that turned off a lot of people thus way she always felt like a loner. Nevertheless, she met her good friend Lindsay McCabe and a boyfriend, David, although…well, that would be a spoiler!
I saw Luca and I totally agree! That movie was so sweet.
I just read the description of the Mask of Mirrors and I’m curious now
I need to get Disney+!
Trey, if you live in the USA, you win an ARC of MASK OF MIRRORS!
Please contact me (Marion) with your US address and I’ll have the book sent right away. Happy reading!